Mental Health Act review supporting documents

The supporting materials for the review of the MHA 1983 that reported in December last year have now been published. They include, in particular, the reports of the topic groups that were convened to address specific issues, which will give a greater understanding of how those groups reached their provisional recommendations, recommendations which then informed the ultimate report. Even where recommendations did not make the final cull required to try and bring the total number down to an even vaguely manageable number and/or were not adopted in the form proposed by the topic group, that they are now recorded here will serve as a useful resource for the future. A good example of this being the Annex to the tribunal report, starting at pp 209, setting out recommendations in relation to tribunal practice and procedure.

At the same time, the opportunity was also taken to correct a glitch with annex B to the report, which has now been replaced with the fuller discussion of the relevant international human rights obligations in play that should originally have been there.

We now await the full government response to the recommendations, the commitment already having been made to bring forward legislation when Parliamentary time allows, and the recommendations about advance choice documents and nominated persons already having been accepted.

— "The application seeks a declaration pursuant to section 15 (that it is lawful and in B's best interests for CANH to be withdrawn) and, secondly, an order pursuant to section 16 for such withdrawal and for B to receive palliative care only. If granted, it is anticipated that B will pass away. ... In […]

— "I concluded it would be appropriate to make a declaration (1) that NLH lacked capacity (a) to make decisions as to the provision of buccal swab samples, the testing of such samples and the profiling of his DNA and (b) to conduct these proceedings, and further (2) that it was lawful for the local […]

— "Thus in determining whether the child has sufficient understanding to give instructions to pursue an appeal and to conduct the appeal I need to consider a range of factors including: (i) The level of intelligence of the child. (ii) The emotional maturity of the child. (iii) Factors which might undermine their understanding such as […]

— "SJF is a 56 year old woman with a complicated matrix of physical and mental health issues. Apart from frequent hospital admissions, she is presently living in a residential placement. She wants to go home to live in her rented flat with her son. The Court is asked to determine: (a) Whether she has […]